Kay Nielsen

Kay Nielsen, 1886-1957, was a Danish illustrator of fairy tales. I have to admit, before I started blogging I didn't think too much about fairy tale illustrators and only knew the artists of a few of the most famous illustrations of Beauty and the Beast. But since looking for images to accompany posts, I've discovered several artists I really love, one of them being Kay Nielsen.

I totally assumed Kay would be a girl, but you pronounce it "Kigh," and he was a man. I was curious as to what led him to illustrate mainly fairy tale scenes, but it seems he just happened to receive commissions to illustrate fairy tales.

A little Disney tie-in, from the Kay Nielsen Biography:

"Nielsen's designs were featured in the "Ave Maria" and "Night on Bald Mountain" sequences of Fantasia, but in 1940 he was laid off. He was brought back to work on designs for a Fantasia sequel that was discontinued after the disappointing showing of the original at the box office. He did some drawings for a version of The Little Mermaid, a film that had to wait almost 50 years to be made. Nielsen was given a posthumous screen credit as one of the designers"